Rachel Robinson

Who is Rachel Robinson?

Rachel Robinson is a former nurse and the widow of baseball player Jackie Robinson. She was born in Los Angeles, and attended the University of California, Los Angeles. There, she met Jackie in 1941, and they married in 1946, the year before Robinson broke into the big leagues. Their son, Jackie Robinson, Jr., was born in November 1946. The Robinsons would later have a daughter, Sharon, and another son, David.

After Jackie Robinson's retirement from baseball in 1957, Rachel Robinson pursued her nursing career, eventually becoming an Assistant Professor at Yale School of Nursing and later, the Director of Nursing at the Connecticut Mental Health Center.

In 1973, after Jackie died, Rachel founded the Jackie Robinson Foundation. In 2009, she received the UCLA Medal from Chancellor Gene Block for her lifetime achievements. The UCLA Medal is the university’s highest honor and was created to "honor those individuals who have made extraordinary and distinguished contributions to their professions, to higher education, to our society, and to the people of UCLA."

In 2007, she was awarded the Commissioner's Historic Achievement Award by Commissioner Bud Selig.²